Result of Service

Result 1: Improved national statistics in participating Member States
IoA 1.1: Considering international standards, quality SUTs and other related statistics (i.e., National accounts, bilateral trade Statistics, etc.) are available for at least 15 additional countries by the end of the project.

Result 2: Building up regional AfCIOT
IoA 2.1: AfCIOT is operational and generates reasonable analytical results (TiVA, environment, employment, policy simulation) for at least 15 additional countries by the end of the project.

Result 3: Capacity building
IoA3.1: At least five national officers in each of the four countries that will receive technical missions report improved statistical and analytical capabilities concerning development of IO tables and understanding of TiVA, environment and employment indicators by the end of the project.

Work Location

Addis Ababa

Expected duration

5 months

Duties and Responsibilities

The adoption of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) bears the promise of boosting intra-African trade flows and underpinning a speeded industrialization of the continent’s economies. The achievement of these objectives requires a better understanding of the nature and intensity of the linkages among African economies and the rest of world. It also demands statistical and analytical instruments capable of producing suitable knowledge for policy makers.
Trade in Value-Added (TiVA) provides statistical insights on trade and production within global value chains (GVCs), by decomposing gross trade flows by country and sector and estimating value-added origins.
The OECD and WTO launched a global Trade in Value-Added (TiVA) database in 2013. This database is recognized as an important and official tool to better understand the nature of today’s global economy. Yet, by mid-2023, of the 54 African economies, less than ten are included in such database, which holds back developing evidence-based economic policies.
To meet this data and knowledge gap, the UNECA has developed the African Continental Input Output Table (AfCIOT), an analytical and statistical tool that combines supply and use tables, national accounts, trade, and other macroeconomic statistics to generate relevant analytical results for trade analysis, including environmental and employment indicators.
The objective of this consultancy is to further develop AfCIOT.

Duties and Responsibilities:
1) Increases the coverage of the database:
– Extends the time coverage of the African Continental Input-Output Table (AfCIOT) database to include nine years, from 2010 to 2019.
– Includes additional 15 countries in the multi-regional IOT to expand the coverage.
– Produces TiVA indicators for all incorporated countries over the time period.

2) Improves the methodology and underlying data:
– Enhances the quality of Supply and Use Tables (SUTs), National Accounts (NA), and external trade statistics by collaborating with Member States and aiming to include data from over 75% of countries in the existing repository.
– Improves methodology for production of TiVA indicators to incorporate specificities such as tax breakdowns and direct purchase elements, and specificities of African countries.

3) Builds capacity of countries through technical assistance workshops and missions:
– Identifies data gaps and weaknesses in quality as required by TiVA and provide remedies to address them.
– Enhances the understanding of TiVA indicators and their application in policymaking.
– Organizes validation workshops to present and discuss the results of the project.

4) Maintains and extend the TiVA interface:
– Incorporates the increased coverage and topics into the TiVA interface.
– Conducts testing of the interface and seeks feedback to improve its usability.
– Publishes the revised TiVA interface for public access.

Qualifications/special skills

Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in any of the following: statistics, economics, computer science, information technology, or other relevant area.
At least five years of work experience in statistical systems with a combination of economic statistics and their application in trade policy required.
A solid experience combining work on supply and use tables, trade statistics, input-output tables, databases, and computerized processes in R is required.

Languages

English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For this post, fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another UN official language is an advantage.

No Fee

THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.